In the recent past, oligonucleotides have played an increasing and more pivotal role in diagnostic medicine, forensic medicine and molecular biology research. One primary function of these polymers, in particular, is their use in gene probe assays for the detection of specific nucleic acid sequences.
Gene probe assays are used for a variety of purposes, including: genetic counseling; tissue typing; and molecular biology research. For example, an individual may be tested to see if he or she carries the gene for Huntington's disease or cystic fibrosis. Another use of gene probe assays include determining compatibility prior to tissue transplantation, and for matching up tissue or blood samples for forensic medicine. Finally, in molecular biology research, these assays are extensively employed to explore homologies among genes from different species, and to clone genes for which only a partial nucleic acid or amino acid sequence is known, such as in the polymerase chain reaction (pcr).
These types of assays typically test for the presence of a specific nucleic acid sequence, usually a DNA sequence, although RNA sequences may be employed as well. As is well known in the field, this is accomplished utilizing oligonucleotides synthesized to have specific, predetermined sequences. The sequence of an oligonucleotide probe may be based on known amino acid sequences, known DNA sequences, or may be a "guess" probe, based on homology to known or putative DNA or amino acid sequences. Since DNA is a "degenerate" code, and several DNA sequences will result in a single amino acid sequence, gene probe assays based on an amino acid sequence frequently utilize pools of related oligonucleotides; each having a different specific sequence of nucleotides. Thus it is often necessary to create a large number of related but distinct oligonucleotides to clone a single gene.
In addition to the actual sequence, there are a number of parameters which may be altered in the synthesis of oligonucleotides. It is also frequently necessary to synthesize these polymers in a variety of lengths, since generally, the longer the oligonucleotide probe, the more specific the gene probe assay will be; specificity may or may not be desired in any particular application. Oligonucleotides may be made of deoxyribonucleotides, or ribonucleotides, or mixtures. Alternatively, oligonucleotides with modified or non-standard bases or non-radioactive labels incorporated may be desirable. Similarly, oligonucleotides with altered ribose-phosphate backbones may be created for some applications.
There are several other uses of oligonucleotides besides the gene probe assay use. For example, the formation of a single stranded oligonucleotide with a specific sequence may be used in the formation of extremely stable triplex DNA structures. Other uses include direct construction of synthetic genes and plasmid vectotrts by ligating or joining together the component 5'-phosphate oligonucleotides.
Accordingly, as the use of synthetic oligonucleotides has increased, so has its demand. In turn, this has spawned development of new synthesis apparatus and methodologies for basic procedures for custom sequence defined oligonucleotides. These apparatus and methods, however, are generally very expensive to employ and not readily available for mass production thereof. Typically, the present generation automated DNA sequential synthesizers place a derivatized solid support, such as controlled pore glass (CPG), into an individual reaction chamber of a column to provide a stable anchor on which to initiate solid phase synthesis. Using a series of complex valving, and pumps coupled to the column, the appropriate selected reagents are sequentially filtrated through the chamber in a predetermined manner. Contact of the reagent with the polymer units pre-affixed to the CPG, which is retained and supported in the chamber by a sample support porous frit, causes a reaction resulting in sequenced growth thereon.
While each column of this assembly is effective to rapidly mass produce a homogenous population of sequence defined oligonucleotides, the current assemblies only offer four (4) column capabilities. Increased column capacity is limited due to physical limitations of the valving configuration. Hence, only four independent synthesis cycles can be performed simultaneously. Further, since the synthesis apparatus is not generally amenable to integrated automation with other robotic lab instrumentation, an operator must intervene to load and remove each individual synthesis column manually. Such handling increases human error.
A more important limitation is that all the reagents are funneled through a common manifold passage. Only one reagent or combination thereof, thus, can be simultaneously deposited in selected columns. For example, the reagent "tetrazole" cannot be deposited in column one while a particular amidite reagent is simultaneously being deposited in column four. In addition, for each independent synthesis or reaction, the common manifold passage and associated valving must be flushed with a cleansing reagent so that residual amidite or deblocking reagents will not be undesirably deposited in a column. This approach wastes time, as well as increasing operator costs.
Synthesis of arrays of bound oligonucleotides or peptides is also generally known in the art. In one approach to parallel synthesis, known as the Tea-bag?? method or disk design, an array of individual packets or disks of solid support beads are physically sorted into four (4) amidite subsets for treatment with the selected amidite. After each packet of beads has been treated with the common reagent, the packets must again be manually resorted into the four subsets for the subsequent synthesis cycle. Such sorting and resorting becomes too burdensome and labor intensive for the preparation of large arrays of oligonucleotides.
Another approach using arrays is the pin dipping method for parallel oligonucleotide synthesis. Geysen, J. Org. Chem. 56, 6659 (1991). In this method, small amounts of solid support are fused to arrays of solenoid controlled polypropylene pins, which are subsequently dipped into trays of the appropriate reagents. The density of arrays, however, is limited, and the dipping procedure employed is cumbersome in practice.
Disclosed at the Southern, Genome Mapping Sequence Conference, May 1991, Cold Spring Harbour, N.Y., is still another scheme for oligonucleotide array synthesis in which selected areas on a glass plate are physically masked and the desired chemical reaction is carried out on the unmasked portion of the plate. The problem with this method is that it is necessary to remove the old mask and apply a new one after each interaction. Fodor et al., Science 251, 767 (1991) describes another method for synthesizing very dense 50 micron arrays of peptides (and potentially oligonucleotides) using mask-directed photochemical deprotection and synthetic intermediates. This method is limited by the slow rate of photochemical deprotection and by the susceptibility to side reactions (e.g., thymidine dimer formation) in oligonucleotide synthesis. Khrapko et al., FEBS Letters 256, 118 (1989) suggest simplified synthesis and immobilization of multiple oligonucleotides by direct synthesis on a two-dimensional support, using a printer-like device capable of sampling each of the four nucleotides into given dots on the matrix. However, no particulars about how to make or use such a device are provided.
In summary, the related art generally contains numerous ideas and information related to the synthesis of arrays of oligonucleotides or peptides for the determination of nucleotide sequences or the amino acid sequences of specific binding peptides. However, existing or suggested methods are limited, and do not conveniently and reliably mass produce very large arrays necessary for effective large-scale sequencing.